Business

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A man walks past a building in Toronto that used to house the Toronto Stock Exchange on August 18 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent ElkaimTORONTO

The S&P/TSX composite index was ahead 13.45 points to 12,436.16 after trading in tight range throughout the session. The TSX Venture Exchange rose 20.88 points to 1,343.52.

The Canadian dollar increased 0.01 of a cent to 102.62 cents US.

The lack of any major direction comes after North American stock markets made significant gains last week on the back of an announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve of an open-ended plan to spend US$40 billion a month on a new round of bond purchases. And it will continue to do so until the job market shows substantial improvement.

"We've had a real strong move this month on a lot of stimulus, both within Europe and the U.S.," said Jeff Bradacs, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

"I think the market's just taking the pause. For the next leg in the market it will (be) to see that stimulus run down into the economy and whether it picks up with macroeconomic data."